Grain-cleaning machine



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G. A. LANAUX.l -GfNAI-N` CLEANING MACHINE.

No. 459,636. Patented sept. 15., 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. LANAUX, OF NEV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

GRAIN-CLEANING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,636, dated September 15, 1891.

Application tiled April 25, 1891. Serial No. 390,442. (No model.)

To LZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LANAUX, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain Cleaning Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the figures of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to apparatus for cleaning grain by separating therefrom the dust, dirt, chaff, and other foreign matter, as well .as the diseased, dead, and blighted grain.

It is the purpose of my said invention to provide a mechanism for the purpose whereby the difference in specific gravityrof the sound and healthy grain as compared with the blighted, diseased, and bad grain and with a large part of the foreign impurities mingled with the grain, is utilized as the eis-V..

sential factor in the process of separation.

My invention therefore consists in a graincleansing mechanism wherein the grain is sifted into a tank containing a body of Water, the sinking grain being received upon a iieXible carrier travelingthrough said tank upon or above its bottom, and rising from the water by an incline, whereby the surplus water may flow back to the tank, while the carrier, being led over a pulley or drum at the end of the emerging incline, dumps the cleansed grain into a hopper, the dead and diseased grain, with the lighter impurities, either rising t0 or remaining upon the surface of the Water and passing off with the overflow, a graduated supply of water being constantly discharged into the tank to maintain the overflow.

The invention also consists in the several novel features of construction and new combinations of part-s hereinafter fully set forth, and then more particularly pointed out and dened in the claims concluding this specification.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use the said invention, I will proceed t0 describe the same in detail, reference being had for this purpose to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of an apparatus embodying myinvention,the shaker' being shown in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the tank and its appurtenances, the shaker being omitted.

The reference-numeral 1 in said drawings indicates the tank, which may be made of sheet metal or other suitable material, and having its greatest depth at one end from which the floor or bottom 2 rises bya continuous incline to the end 3, which is the highest point of the tank. VThis vessel, which is supported by any suitable form of leg frames 4 and 5, may be considerably varied in dimensions, and it may be modified Within certain limits in form; but the essential features thereof Will always be present.

The numeral 6 indicates a iiexible endless carrier, consisting of a belt, apron, or other similar device formed of any material adapted to the purpose. This carrier is supported upon pulleys or rolls 7 and S, the former -placed in any convenient bearings at the deepest end of the tank and the latter at the end 3, the arrangement being such that the carrier, coming off the roll 7, may pass down into the tank close to its end wall and being guided by a roll 9 beneath which the carrier is led. Frein this point the carrier rests upon small supporting-rolls 10, just above the inclined bottom 2 of the tank. Passing over the highest point of the incline, it is received upon the roll S, carried partly around the same, and thence is led to a roll 12, located at such a point that the carrier inclines toward the tank, thereby giving space for the arrangement of a hopper 13 beneath the roll 8.

A second roll 14 guides the carrier to a point whence it can easily return to the roll 7 The rolls 12 and 14 may be arranged beneath the floor of the building or apartment, and in this case the carrier will pass through openings 15 in the floor.

Vater is supplied to the tank by means of a pipe 16, arranged horizontally at or :near one longitudinal edge ofthe tank and either at the normal level of the body of water therein contained or very near this point. The pipe is perforated and extends some distance along the length of the tank, being supplied by a suitable inlet branch 17. (Shown in Fig.

IOO

A shield or guard 1S is arranged over the pipe 16, for a purpose presently to be eX- plained.

Above the tank is suspended the shaker 19, consisting of avessel, box, or container, of less width than the width of the tank, as shown byl dotted lines in Fig. 2, its length also being less than the length of that portion of the tank occupied by the water. The bottom of the shaker is formed of any suitable foraminous material 19a, the openings or interstices being of such size that the grain may pass through. The shaker is suspended by links 20, having pivoted connection at their ends, and the shaking or reciprocating movement by which the grain is sifted through the foraminous bottom is imparted by means of a rod orbar 2l operated by any suitable means, its end beingpivotally connected to a lug 22 on the shaker. The shaker is hung upon an incline,so that the end lyingoverthe deepestportion of the tank is slightlylower than the other end, the grain being thereby caused to accumulate at the extremity. By the reciprocating or shaking movement the grain is sifted through the bottom of the shaker, and drops, as the arrangement shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 indicates, upon that side of the interior of the tank next theWater-supply pipe 17. The sound grain sinks through the body of water, and is received upon the carrier 6, by which it is carried up the inclined bottom 2, the surplus water draining off as the carrier emerges from the surface and passes to the higher end 3. As the carrier passes over the roll 8 the grain thereon falls by gravity into the hopper 13, any adhering particles being subsequently removed by a brush 23, which is operated by the carrier. The dead or bad grain, on the contrary, having a less gravity, lioats upon the surface with the chaff, trash, and such other foreign matter as may be capable of Heating.

Upon the side of the tank opposite the supply-pipe 17 is a gutter 24:, into which a constant overflow is poured from the surface of the water, carrying with it the floating matter. The discharge is carried off from the gutter 24 into any suitable tank or receptacle. By making the shaker of less Width than the tank,

and arranginging it over the side of the tanknext the inlet, the grain falls into the Water so far from the gutter 24 as to avoid all danger of any good grain being caught by and carried with the overflovt7 and allows the good grain ample time to sink and separate from the bad grain and chaff.

At or near the ends of the tank I arrange deflectors 25 and 26, to prevent any of the trash and bad grain oating on the surface from following and adhering to the carrier or becoming mingled with the cleansed grain thereon. These deflectors also compel the oating matter to followl the current and pass off with the overflow.

Adjacent to the sides of the tank are arranged the inclined defieetors 27, which pre vent the sound grain from lodging upon the extreme edges of the carrier, from which it might fall. These deflectors are arranged at such an angle that they collect the sound grain upon the carrier at some little distance from the edges of the carrier. The guard 18 over the water-pipe prevents the falling grain from striking the pipe and being thrown over the edges of and out of the tank.

By placing the water-supply pipe 17 on or very near the normal Water-level, the current flowing to the gutter 24 will be almost entirely upon the surface. This result may be materially aided by perforating the pipe 17 in such manner that the iniiowing water will be discharged either horizontally toward the gutter or at a small angle with the surface, thereby allowing the grain to sink vertically, or nearly so, and aiding in conveying the floating impurities oit with the desired rapidity. This keeps the surface of the water so nearly clear and free from accumulations of floating matter that the sound grain is in no danger of lodging thereon, nor can any material damining up of the overflow be caused by the fall of an unusual proportion of floating impurities.

1. In a grain-cleaning apparatus, the combination of a Water-tank having a longitudinal overdow gutter extending along one side at the water-level, an endless carrier traveling through the water along the bottom wall of the tank to carry oit the sound grain from the tank, a grain-receiver arranged outside the tank and receiving the grain from the carrier, and a device located above the tank for dropping the grain into the Water, substantially as described.

2. In a grain-cleaning apparatus, the combination of a vibrating grain-container having a foraminous bottom for dropping the grain, a Water-tank located beneath the container and having a longitudinal overflow gutter along one side located at the waterlevel and receiving the overflow, an endless carrier traveling through the Water along the bottom Wall of the tank to carry 0E the sound grain therefrom, and a grain receiver arranged outside the tank and receiving the grain from the carrier, substantially as described.

3. In a grain-cleaning apparatus, the combination of a vibrating grain-container having a foraminous bottom for dropping the grain, a water-tank located beneath the container and having a longitudinal overfiow gutter along one side located at the waterlevel and receiving the overflow, a guide-pulley in the lowest part of the tank, a guide-pulley at the upper portion of each end of the tank, an endless carrier engaging the pulleys traveling through the water along the bottom wall of the tank and extending round the latter beneath the tank, guides for the carrier IOO lIO

outside the tank, and a grain-receiver for receiving the grain from the carrier, substantially as described.

4. In a grain-cleaning apparatus, the combination, With a tank having an inclined bottom rising at one end above the level of a body of Water in said tank, of a exible. endless carrier traversing said tank above its botneath the end of the tank at Which the car- Vrier emerges to receive the grain falling from thelatter, substantially as described.

5. In a grain-cleaning apparatus, the combination, With a tank having a bottom which inclines upward from a deep point at one end and emerges from the surface of a body of Water in said tank, of a iiexible carrier traversing said tank near its bottom, a shaker adapted toA drop or sift grain into the Water and arranged above and near one side of the tank, a perforated supply-pipe extending longitudinally at or near the Waterlevel along the side of the tank next which the grain drops, said pipe maintaining a surface overiow upon the other side of the tank into a suitable gutter, delectors guiding the falling grain, a hopper receiving the sound grain from the carrier, and a brush to remove from the latter any adhering grain, substantially as described. f

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two Wit- 4o Witnesses:

WALTER H. Cook, M. C. SoNIAT. 

